Lazarus Pit - Notable Uses

Notable Uses

The Lazarus Pits have been used by multiple characters throughout the Batman universe, which include:

• Ra's al Ghul, the most notable user of the pits, who has used them to cheat death and stay in his prime for centuries.
• In the seventh issue of Batman and Robin, Dick Grayson, the current Batman, put Bruce Wayne's corpse into a Lazarus Pit located in England, only to learn that the corpse was that of an insane clone created by Darkseid.
• Ra's al Ghul's daughter, Nyssa was at first allowed to use her father's Lazarus Pits due to his respect for her ability; and even after her dissent from him, she was allowed to keep one for her use. Later, she found a way to reuse the pit indefinitely, whereas before a pit could only be used once for each person.
• After being restored to life by Superboy-Prime's disruption of reality and following his murder at the hands of the Joker, Jason Todd becomes an amnesiac vagrant. Later he is recognized by Talia al Ghul, who restores his health and memory by immersing him in a Lazarus Pit in which her father, Ra's Al Ghul, also bathed. (Following Jason's original death, Batman had briefly contemplated using a Lazarus Pit to restore him, but rejected the option on the grounds that the cranial trauma Jason had suffered prior to his death made it unlikely that he would ever be mentally stable after such an ordeal.)
• In Birds of Prey #34, the second Black Canary (Dinah Laurel Lance) was put in a Lazarus Pit after being seriously wounded. In Birds of Prey #35, the pit was shown to also restore her metahuman ability, the Canary Cry; and though not explicitly stated in the issue, it was implied that she also gained the ability to have children again. Both abilities were previously hindered before her exposure to the pit.
• The Riddler, in the 12-part storyline "Hush," was revealed to be suffering from cancer in the form of a brain tumor. He used one of Ra's al Ghul's Lazarus Pits to cure himself of the disease, also managing to work out Batman's identity in the process. Batman promised Riddler that he would alert the League of Assassins to his use of the Pit if Riddler ever revealed his identity.
• Cassandra Cain was killed by her "adoptive brother," the Mad Dog, while heroically saving one of the students under her leadership. She later was revived by Lady Shiva in the Lazarus Pit, who then answered Cassandra's questions of her parentage.
• Lady Shiva, after battling with the newly-resurrected Cassandra Cain, was killed and assumed to have fallen into the Lazarus Pit, as she later was found to be alive.
• Kobra, after learning of the existence of Lazarus Pits, learned to build modified pits that allowed him to control the minds of those he killed and resurrected with them. Because of this, like Ra's al Ghul, he too has a hidden network of Lazarus Pits and is also credited as the only person to ever decipher the formula of the composition that makes up the pits.
• In return for creating a machine for Nyssa Raatko and her group, Mr. Freeze was given access to her Lazarus Pit to restore his wife, Nora Fries. However, due to her years of being altered, she had absorbed the pits alchemical properties, giving her the power to conjure flames and reanimate the dead. Now calling herself Lazara, she claims to hate Mr. Freeze, though he still seeks her with the hope of the two being reunited.
• When King Snake rebelled and declared himself the next Naja-Naja, he healed his eyes in a Lazarus Pit, restoring his eyesight.
• Duela Dent claims to have been resuscitated by a Lazarus Pit in a short story contained in Teen Titans/Outsiders Secret Files #2.
• Bane saved Batman from being shot by King Snake, although he was mortally wounded in the process. To return the favor, Batman then saved Bane by bathing him in a Lazarus Pit and left him to his own devices.
• In Black Adam: The Dark Age, Black Adam is seen using a Lazarus Pit located in the Himalayas in order to resurrect his dead wife, Isis. This is an atypical use, since Isis was severely decomposed.
• In Batman Annual: Head of the Demon, a servant of Ra's al Ghul known as the White Ghost attempts to trick Talia al Ghul into allowing her son, Damian Wayne, to sacrifice his body in the Australian Lazarus Pit in order to provide Ra's al Ghul with a new body for his displaced soul to inhabit.
• In Batman & Robin, Kate Kane Batwoman and a Bruce Wayne Clone use the pit for resurrection, assisted by Dick Grayson and Knight and Squire.
• During an alternate timeline where the original members of the JLA had been killed, Superman and Batman used the Pit to resurrect Green Lantern, the Flash, Aquaman, and the Martian Manhunter using their skeletons. Though the resurrections were imperfect, creating undead copies of the men they had formerly been, rather than complete resurrections, due to short exposure time and the length of time that they had been dead.